Cameron with his CHD Quilt #27

Alexa, Doug, Austin, Kara and Cameron

Cameron was an unexpected blessing for my husband and me. When we found out that I was pregnant with our third child, we were ecstatic. I had a normal pregnancy and started to have problems 6 weeks before birth. I started having contractions around that time and was told to take it easy until after Easter. I lasted 4 days after Easter and started to go into labor with Cameron that Friday morning. I was in labor for 33 hours when he finally decided to grace us with his presence! He was 3 weeks early.

Cameron weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces. The doctors said he was a healthy baby boy. I had a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right, but thought I was being silly since I had had 2 healthy children before Cameron.

Ten days later, on May 6, 2003, I found out that I was right. I had just gotten back from getting some diapers with all 3 of my children when I noticed Cameron’s cries sounded different. His color looked a little grayish, and his lower body was ice cold. I called my husband first and told him what was going on and asked if I should call our family doctor. He told me to go ahead and call and that he would be home in a few minutes. I explained what was going on with one of the nurses at my doctor’s office and she told me to take him over there right away. My husband came home and was going to stay with our other 2 children, but I begged him to come. Cameron looked up into my eyes, and they seemed to be screaming ‘help me, mommy!’

The doctor took one look at him and had someone call the rescue squad right away. They took him lights and sirens to the closest hospital. While we were there, the doctors didn’t really know what was wrong with Cameron. The ER doctor on call that dreadful afternoon told me that Cameron would probably not make it through the night. I broke down.

The hospital called our closest Children’s Hospital, which was an hour’s drive. They airlifted Cameron there and we arrived an hour later. (Okay, 45 minutes later!) Once we got there, Cameron’s cardiologist came in to see us right away. He told us that Cameron had coarctation of the aorta and also a bicuspid aortic valve. Unfortunately, they weren’t equipped to do heart surgery there, so they got him more stabilized and we were on the road once again. Cameron was transported to another hospital about an hour away. (2 hours from home!)

The doctors there wanted Cameron to regain his strength because he had gone so long without blood flow to the lower extremities. His liver showed signs of failing and his blood was very acidic. At 12 days of age, on May 8, 2003, Cameron had surgery. The surgeon went in under Cameron’s left arm and took out the narrow part of the aorta, and also took out the ductus. Cameron was in the CICU for 4 days total and then was able to go home 1 week to the day that we had went in. Cameron had dropped down to a weight of 6 pounds 4 ounces, right after surgery.

The doctors all said that it was a miracle that he is alive. Cameron was very sick when he arrived at the first hospital. His body temp was 91.6 degrees. He was also in cardiac shock. The first cardiologist said that Cameron’s coarctation was so severe that there was no blood going through his aorta. The same doctor told me months later at a checkup that he really had doubts that Cameron was going to make it, although he wasn’t going to tell us that.

Cameron has been doing great since. He had to go back in 3 weeks after surgery. His incision got infected and he also had a urinary tract infection due to the catheter. He is now a big 15½ month old. My husband and I are amazed at this little boy and we count our blessings every day that he is here with us.